Minnesota officials pardoned a criminal illegal immigrant convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting a child last month, removing the necessary qualifying convictions to deport him from the country.
Democrat Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz approved the pardon for sex offender and illegal immigrant Tou Lue Vang after the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission voted to wipe his criminal record. Vang was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Vang repeatedly sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl from 2002 to 2004, once offering his victim $10 to keep quiet about his crimes. When questioned by police, he tried to excuse his actions for cultural reasons, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: DOJ Arrests Illegal Alien For Voting In Federal Election)
“It is a cultural thing […] to marry and have sex with girls as young as 12,” Vang told police.
He also, according to DHS, told police his 10-year-old victim was just as guilty and should be arrested. A Department of Justice (DOJ) immigration judge issued an order of final removal for Vang following his 2006 conviction.
Vang entered California from Laos in 1994 and received legal status under former President Bill Clinton. This status was revoked upon his conviction and removal order, according to DHS. Until last year, Laos had largely refused to accept deportations from the United States, resulting in a number of Laotian nationals being able to forestall final orders of removal.
“Governor Tim Walz’s decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting,” Acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a Wednesday press release. “These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his Minnesota sanctuary politicians are protecting.”
“This pardon will take away this child rapist’s qualifying convictions that made him removable from the United States,” Bis added.
Minnesota is marked by the DOJ as a sanctuary state, meaning it limits or forbids local and state law enforcement from cooperating with and assisting federal immigration authorities. The dangers of sanctuary policies, which protect criminal illegal immigrants from deportation, have been the focus of recent House committee investigations. (RELATED: Angel Mom Of Sheridan Gormon Torches Dems For Protecting Illegals With Sanctuary Policies)
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 12: (L-R) Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul arrive for a hearing with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at the U.S. Capitol on June 12, 2025 in Washington, DC. The committee held the hearing titled “A Hearing with Sanctuary State Governors” and questioned governors about their state immigration policies. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Walz and other pardon officials have acknowledged that the threat of deportation facing many convicted immigrants seeking pardon is a factor considered among many, The New York Times reported.
The Minnesota Clemency Review Commission was created in 2023 under Walz’s leadership to review applications for pardon from convicted individuals and make recommendations to the Minnesota Board of Pardons. Pardons must be approved unanimously by all three board members, consisting of the governor, the state attorney general, and the chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Walz attempted to loosen the requirements for pardons in 2021 by requiring only two votes of approval from the Board of Pardons. The Minnesota Supreme Court shot down the attempt in 2022, declaring it unconstitutional.
Minnesota granted a pardon to another illegal immigrant who had been convicted of felony robbery with a gun just last month.
The blue state granted 121 pardons and denied 14 last year, The Times reported. Roughly 16 percent of the pardon applications submitted in Minnesota from March 2025 to June 2026 mentioned the threat of deportation as a reason for seeking pardon, according to data from the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission.